Titus County Refreshes Voting Technology; Retains Paper Ballots

MT. PLEASANT, Texas, May 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Titus County has joined a growing number of Texas jurisdictions to leave their previous vendors for Hart InterCivic as Hart and its Verity® Voting system continue to gain momentum across the state. Titus is the first among Texas Verity adopters to deploy the system's paper-based voting configuration.

In the polling place, voters can choose to mark their ballots by hand or to use an accessible ballot marking device called Verity Touch Writer. Voters then cast their votes by inserting the ballot into the Verity Scan tabulator.

"Our equipment was becoming ancient; we had to look at something new," said Krissy Lytle, Titus County Elections Administrator. "When I first saw Verity, I thought it looked very user friendly. Our judges will have an easy time using this system, and transporting it will be so much less work than the older equipment we have now. Currently, the Sheriff's Office has to deliver our equipment for us. Now the judges will be able to load it in their own cars. It's going to be simpler all around."

Lytle plans to debut the new system this November. "This will allow us to get all the judges trained and let Titus County voters experience Verity before the 2018 mid-term election," she said. "I look forward to introducing our voters to the system. We always work to keep the voters happy, and I believe they'll appreciate Verity's ease of use."

"Verity is a natural choice for jurisdictions in Texas – both those that vote with paper and those that vote electronically," said Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic. "Hart and Verity were born and bred in Texas, and we have incorporated the state's election needs into our new Verity system. We welcome Titus County to the Texas family of Verity users."

Austin-based Hart InterCivic is a full service election solutions innovator, partnering with state and local governments to deliver secure, accurate and reliable elections. Working side-by-side with election professionals for more than 100 years, Hart is committed to helping advance democracy one election at a time. Hart's mission fuels its passionate customer focus and continuous drive for technological innovation. The company's new Verity Voting system makes voting more straightforward, equitable and accessible—and makes managing elections more transparent, more efficient and easier.